One-stop shop, in­cred­i­bly!

K J Alphons, Min­is­ter of State (I/C) for Tourism, speaks on the re­cently-launched In­cred­i­ble In­dia web­site and the ini­tia­tives un­der­taken for in­fras­truc­tural de­vel­op­ment in the coun­try to boost tourism.

De­pend­ing on your in­ter­est, you can browse through the mul­ti­ple op­tions avail­able at the new web­site

Q What are the ini­tia­tives taken up by the Min­istry for the de­vel­op­ment of in­fras­truc­ture in In­dia?

As far as the Min­istry of Tourism is con­cerned, we need ba­sic in­fras­truc­ture, con­nec­tiv­ity, good roads, air­ports and cruise yards. The gov­ern­ment has al­ready been suc­cess­ful in terms of cre­at­ing road in­fras­truc­ture; where 4 kms of road was con­structed ev­ery­day and to­day 25 kms of beau­ti­ful roads are be­ing con­structed. The gov­ern­ment is spend­ing

` 15 lakh crores on cre­at­ing ba­sic in­fras­truc­ture in road, ship­ping and civil avi­a­tion. For ex­am­ple, UDAN is a great initiative. Hun­dreds of des­ti­na­tions which were not served ear­lier are con­nected now.

Q Tell us some­thing about the new In­cred­i­ble In­dia web­site.

The web­site is very in­ter­ac­tive. Peo­ple now don’t have to go any­where else to seek in­for­ma­tion about In­dia. De­pend­ing on your in­ter­est, you can browse through the mul­ti­ple op­tions avail­able. We are also link­ing other web­sites, for ex­am­ple, we have a link to the hote­lier’s as­so­ci­a­tion. Apart from gov­ern­ment in­for­ma­tion, we have also linked other sec­tors re­lated to tourism so that peo­ple can make their choices.

Q What are the lat­est up­dates on the cruise tourism front?

We are build­ing a cruise ter­mi­nal in Mum­bai. We have al­ready built one in Goa and are in the process of build­ing a sec­ond one in Kochi. Chennai al­ready has one. We are also in­vest­ing money in Vizag. We have re­laxed the visa regime at th­ese des­ti­na­tions so that peo­ple don’t need a bio­met­ric when they come on-board. We have asked the Fi­nance Min­istry to com­pletely ex­empt GST from cruise tourism. Things will be much eas­ier once this is re­alised. We also want In­dia to be a home boat for cruise tourism. There is only one ship which is cur­rently ported in In­dia. Now we want more ships to be ported in the coun­try to boost tourism further.